I’ve been thinking about this poem a lot with the United States’ Artemis 2 mission. And I feel a sense of loss at my own apathy towards it - that I can’t find it within myself to look at the new pictures of the Earth and Moon in wonder. I feel nothing seeing them. And space is a domain where I think people are very easily moved by our own ability to capture it with photographs and other instruments. It invites you to think about humanity as a single, universal entity. Looking at photos of Saturn taken by the Cassini space probe doesn’t make me think of myself but of every human being that’s ever lived. It invokes a feeling of utter humility and smallness. It’s hard not to think I am bearing witness to the face of god.
But it is impossible to access those feelings now with the US conducting and aiding in genocides and bombings in Palestine and Iran and Lebanon and on and on and on. They are using the same technology to explore space as they are for levelling cities. And I know there has always been something terrible happening in the world whenever manned rockets are launched into space, so it’s not like this is new. There was never a time in which we “just” explored beyond our atmosphere. But the present moment feels inescapable, and I find myself unable to divorce what is happening down here from the photos we receive from the Artemis above us.
baratheonpilled
gummygunk
kianamaiart
origamiaround
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
discoholicmusic
turnnoffyourmind
janainaart
